Point of View

Hilary Mantel tells her novel from the third-person narrative mode, with a limited-omniscient aspect in the present-tense. This is done for at least two reasons. First, the third-person narrative mode allows Mantel the ability not only to tell a story, but to supplement the novel itself with important historical asides and contextual information. For example, in Part VI, Chapter 1, Mantel is able to explain that Cromwell has been studying the work of Marsiglio of Padua, and then provides a brief explanation of that work, and its historical context to her novel. The second reason that the novel is told in the third-person limited-omniscient narrative is that it creates a degree of drama and suspense for the reader, for the reader learns things only as the character sin the novel learn them.